Bakersfield,
CA - March 18-20, 2011: It took two weekends with damn near every imaginable
weather condition to get 'er done, but the 53rd March Meet is
in the books with Rick White mowing down a stellar Top Fuel field
besting co-favorite Brett Harris in the final.
A week later,
before a hand full of people on March 26, White's 5.707 @ 259.21
bested Harris' stellar 5.783 @ 261.34.
White had the
quickest run of the event at 5.65 seconds while Harris had the
Top Speed of 262.08.
Photos
and full results below.
Friday morning found the crew
getting the car ready for the first qualifying session.
Brett, Jack and Nitro
Thunder's PR lady, Jean Priest.
Top Fuel driver Denver
Schutz stopped by for some laughs.
1st
Qualifying Session
Friday, 2:07
p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative
humidity 17 percent, barometer 28.98 inches, adjusted altitude
2,778 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.
Crew - Pre Fireup
The first session
matched up two proven winners that would make a marquee final
round at any event. Brett Harris in the Utah based Jack Harris
Racing "Nitro Thunder" and Jim Murphy in his WW2 Racing
entry.
Official Back-Up Girl,
Carissa Harris guided her dad back.
Kaden
Harris and grandma Celia watch from the truck.
Both
cars left very hard and had great early numbers.
As advertised
this was a dandy. From start to finish both cars were glued together
with Harris carding a 5.740 at 258.07 and Murphy a mirror 5.743
at 251.81. Both drivers agreed it was a "FUN" deal.
Murphy's incremental
times: 60ft-1.016 sec., 330ft-2.605, 660ft 3.828/203.77 mph,
1,000ft-4.861.
Harris' incremental
times: 60ft-1.035 sec., 330ft-2.633, 660ft-3.856/204.79 mph,
1,000ft-4.876.
The crew just did routine
maintenance between sessions.
2nd
Qualifying Session
Friday, 5:08
p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 61 degrees, relative
humidity 44 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude
1,502 feet, track temperature 83 degrees. With the drop in temperature
the track was getting suspect. Several cars passed.
Next to last
pair in session two was the current #1 and #2 qualifiers, Rick
White and Brett Harris and would serve as a pre-view of the final.
Both cars had
good early numbers. Neal really gets after the clutch in this
baby.
The cold track yielded dueling shut offs. Both
click it early, as there was a cloud of clutch dust from both
cars.
3rd
Qualifying Session
Saturday 12:08
p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 61 degrees, relative
humidity 44 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude
1,502 feet, track temperature 83 degrees.... very nice racing
conditions.
For the
last session Harris was paired with local favorite Rick McGee.
Both cars left
hard with Harris grabbing a slight lead and lead McGee all the
way to the finish line.
Two good clean
passes and Harris was just a tad slower than his previous ETs.
His 5.763 at 253.99 would keep him #2.
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